Types of the Bride of Christ: Asenath

Asenath was the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On.  Her marriage to Joseph certainly allied him with one of the most powerful priestly families in Egypt.

Asenath’s name is of Egyptian origin and it may mean that she belongs to the goddess Neit.  She is only briefly mentioned in Scripture.  

From historical accounts, we know that she was a pagan.  Some Jewish writers believe that she was a proselyte (a convert).  These writers suggest that she was first spurned by Joseph and repented of her idolatry by wearing a sackcloth and ashes and disposing of her wealth.  Jewish legend goes on to say that she lost her beauty, until she washed her face in pure water and became marvelously beautiful.  Then she married Joseph. 

Another Jewish legend is that bees covered her and stung her lips to remove her false prayers.  Other non-Biblical stories are that she saved Joseph’s life when Potiphera was going to slay him, testifying that her mother lied about her accusations.  Or that she was really a member of Jacob’s family — the daughter of Joseph’s sister, Dinah — and conceived in her rape by Shechem.

Joseph is one of the strongest types for Christ in Scripture.  What we do know from the Bible is that Asenath becomes Joseph’s bride during the time of his rejection.  He also marries her before the seven years of famine. 

In fact, we do not hear of Asenath again until after the famine, which I believe is telling us that the bride will be removed from the earth before the Tribulation. 

Reference: Jewish Encyclopedia

Types of the Bride of Christ: Rebekah

Scripture tells us that Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nabor, Abraham’s brother.

Abraham — a type of God the Father — instructed his servant (a type of the Holy Spirit) to find a bride for his son Isaac, who is a type for Christ.  Abraham insisted that the bride was not to come from the Canaanites, but from his country and his people. 

Her deeds qualified her 

Rebekah, a virgin, kindly provides Abraham’s servant with water from the well, which was the sign the servant was looking for.  It is also a type for the bride filling herself up with the living water that the Lord lovingly provides every time we go to His Word.  Rebekah fills her pitcher, not once, but twice, which tells us that she had a double portion.

The servant gives her a golden earring of half a shekel weight and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold, which was the bride price.  The golden earring represents that she was hearing and obeying God’s Word (Royce Powell).  He also gives her jewels of silver and gold and her raiment, which points to the bride being qualified at judgment seat of Christ.

When the servant asks if there is room in her father’s house, she says there is both enough straw and provender.  Isaiah 11:7 tells us that when Christ reigns, the lion will eat straw. 

She came out of her world

The servant asks: “Wilt though go with this man?” Rebekah says yes, which requires leaving her home and family behind, a type of what the Holy Spirit will do after He removes the bride from this fallen world.  It is also instruct us that we should not follow the ways and the sways of the world and steadfastly follow Christ Jesus, our Bridegroom.   

She had faith in that which was unseen

Scripture tells us that Rebekah arose to go and meet Isaac — who was coming to claim her — just as the bride (among other believers) will arise at the rapture to meet her Bridegroom for the first time in the clouds.  Rebekah had never met Isaac before, but she goes to him having faith in that which is unseen.  She is a beautiful type of a bride who willingly gave up everything to be with her bridegroom.  

References: Complete Word Study Bible, Jewish Encyclopedia

A Consuming Fire

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 

(2 Corinthians 5:10, KJV)

¹² Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;¹³ Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.¹⁴ If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.¹⁵ If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Corinthians 3:12-15, KJV, emphasis mine)

I have been trying to picture what it will be like when I stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ. The Complete Word Study Bible tells us that bema is “by implication any elevated place to which the ascent is by steps.”

I imagine myself as being very small as I climb those majestic steps with my head hung down, feeling nothing except the overwhelming awe, power, and glory of the Lord.

I have been using this mental picture when I pray and worship because it transforms me to a state of complete humility and total obedience.

It also reminds me that any works that I do of my own accord will be burned up as wood, hay, and stubble at the judgment seat of Christ. I will either be rewarded or suffer loss based upon everything I have done in the body, which should be a sobering thought for all believers.

Unfortunately, however, the importance of the judgment seat of Christ has either been shut up completely or reduced to a school-like “report card” with no staggering consequences.

There will be a great deal of shock and surprise beyond the rapture for many believers, which is the apt title of the late Pastor Gary Whipple’s book. He teaches that:

• Wood represents works that are done through the world and its influences
• Hay is works that are done through our flesh or old nature, apart from the Holy Spirit
• Stubble (straw) are the works of Satan in our lives

On the flip side:

• Gold represents works related to the Kingdom doctrines
• Silver represents redemption and the three parts of man (body, spirit, and soul)
• Precious stones represent the Holy Spirit working in our lives

I have also been studying how fire is associated with the Lord. Scripture tells us that:

• The Lord our God is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, Hebrews 12:29)
• The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire (Exodus 24:17)
• A devouring fire came out of His mouth (2 Samuel 22:9, Psalm 18:8)
• Fire came down from Him (2 Chronicles 7:3)
• He was a wall of fire around Jerusalem (Zechariah 2:5)
• He is like a refiner’s fire (Malachi 3:2)
• Our works will be revealed by fire (1 Corinthians 3:13)
• His eyes were as a flame of fire (Revelation 1:14)

Now as I picture the judgment seat of Christ, I am beginning to wonder if Christ is literally the fire that will either burn up or refine our works? 

Pretribulation Rapture: Fact or Fiction?

I watched a video this week where two pastors passionately argued that a pretribulation rapture is a work of fiction.  Their mission is to warn that believers will go through the tribulation.

When you do not understand the coming millennial kingdom and the events surrounding the judgment seat of Christ, it is easy to confuse parts of Scripture.  I believe this is what happened to these pastors.

They cited 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, which does describe the rapture (emphasis is mine):

¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Then they cited Matthew 24:29-31 as evidence of why there will not be a pretribulation rapture (emphasis is mine):

²⁹ Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: ³⁰ And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹ And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

But Jesus is not talking about the rapture here.  The pastors stressed the importance of comparing Scripture with Scripture, but they fell short.  They based their assumption on the mention of a trumpet in both 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and Matthew 24:31.  Look at a previous verse, Matthew 24:27:

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

I believe this verse does refer to the rapture.  Believers will meet Jesus in the clouds in the air — which happens in an instant, like lightening — but no one on earth will see Him.  Immediately after the rapture, the seven-year tribulation begins.  Then after the tribulation everyone will see Christ Jesus when He visibly returns to earth.  This is the post-rapture and post-trib event that Jesus is describing in Matthew 24:29-31.  

We see a similar reference to Christ Jesus’ visible second coming to earth in Revelation 1:7 (emphasis mine):

“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
 and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.

The pastors also argued that Matthew 24:37-41 describes the rapture:

³⁷As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.  (Matthew 24:37-41, emphasis mine)

I admit that these verses stumped me.  When you compare Scripture with Scripture, during the days of Noah God “took away” all the evil people in the flood.  This includes the nephillim, the giant offspring of fallen angels who mated with daughters of men (Genesis 6:4) to try and pollute the human gene pool and prevent the birth of Jesus.  While Matthew 24:37-41 sounds like the rapture, it would be contradictory.

I prayed for God’s wisdom, set my studying aside, and went to listen to John Herbert, a kingdom truth preacher I like.  Wouldn’t you know it he was talking that about that very passage!  Herbert says the parable is describing all believers at the judgment seat of Christ; that the Greek word for “taken” describes being an intimate associate or a joining to one’s self. 

Comparing Scripture with Scripture, Jesus tells us in Matthew 13:38 that the field is the world.  Grinding the mill also relates to the threshing floor, where the wheat will be separated from the chaff.  In the Matthew 24:40-41 parable, Herbert says Jesus is talking about believers and their works done while in the body that will either withstand the test of fire or be burned up at the judgment seat of Christ.  

Herbert also says the ones who are left behind in Matthew 24:40-41 are believers whose works do not withstand the test of fire.  They will be outside the millennial kingdom (in the outer darkness) for a period of 1,000 years.

An alternate theory is that Jesus is referring to the remnant of believers who will be saved during the tribulation period.  The ones who are taken are those who are unsaved and will suffer God’s wrath and judgment.  But I need to do more study on this before I make a conclusion. 

Either way, I am convinced that these verses — and all of the types — in Scripture do not support a post-tribulation rapture.